The U.S. men’s hockey team brought out the big guns for their opening game against the Slovaks, winning 7-1. Meanwhile, Russia dispatched Slovenia 5-2 behind goals from superstars Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin and Ilya Kovalchuk.

A U.S. -Russia matchup always conjures images of the 1980 Miracle on Ice, but this isn’t a David-and-Goliath game. Both teams are serious medal contenders in this Sochi Winter Games, and they both have their share of increased pressure — traditionally hockey-dominant Russia wants to win on its home ice, and the U.S. came close enough to gold in Vancouver that it wants more.

Grab a bowl of cereal, kick back on your couch in your pajamas and follow along with WSJ reporters and editors in both the U.S. and Russia as we live blog the tilt.

As we get ready to get under way here, any predictions? My bead on this tournament is that Russia is a little overhyped – lots of fireworks on offense, but their defensive pairings are seriously lacking. I think you’re going to end up with a final of 4-3 USA.

Russia doesn’t have a ton of two-way forwards. Yes they have Pavel Datsyuk, but beyond that there’s a lot of guys that think offense first. That’s going to put a ton of pressure on the blue line and the goalie–two places led by members of the Columbus Blues Jackets (Nikita Nikitin on defense and Sergei Bobrobsky in net). I don’t think that scares a lot of the Americans. I think USA is better defensively and, as we all saw against the Slovaks, capable of scoring. My prediction is 3-1 for Team USA.

To recap, NBC has had Al Michaels on the broadcast leading up to the game, they’ve shown the final seconds of the Miracle on Ice, and I’ve heard “Do you believe in miracles? YES!” at least twice – and I’ve been awake for less than 20 minutes.

Pittsburgh Penguins head coach, and Team USA head coach, Dan Bylsma going with a well-known d-pairing today. He’s paired up Penguins’ d-men Paul Martin and Brooks Orpik for this big game. It’s interesting to see USA mix things up after throttling the Slovaks.

As at the Slovenia-Russia game the other day, we have many Russian flags in the crowd imprinted with the places the fans are from. I see Blagoveshchensk, Krasnoyarsk, Vladivostok, and even Sakhalin, which is just north of Japan.

The experience levels of these two goalies are pretty intriguing – Jon Quick is known to be awesome and extremely sharp under pressure. He’s got a Stanley Cup with the LA Kings. Sergei Bobrovsky had a breakout year with the Columbus Blue Jackets last year, winning the Vezina trophy as the league’s best goalie. But I’m not sure he knows anything about pressure, playing for an awful, awful Columbus team.

The pace of this game has been a bit uneven but man, with that crowd roaring any time Russia does anything, it almost feels like the US is trying to mount a comeback. At least that’s how it feels watching on TV.

Penalty on Blake Wheeler. Gotta be tough for him as the extra forward. He’s got limited ice time and is just trying to make things happen. Unfortunately he goes to the box and puts the potent Russian PP on the ice.

Russian goalie Bobrovsky leaves the net on that delayed penalty. Just another reason this isn’t a replay of the Miracle on Ice game, back when Russian goalie Myshkin didn’t know he could leave the net for an extra attacker as the U.S. led in the final moments.

About those cheerleaders: They are from the award-winning squad at Chelyabinsk State University in the south Urals and had to try out for the hockey gig. One cheerer said the group recenly won third place in a European cheer competition.

The U.S. looked good on the penalty kill. One of the criticisms when the team was put together was too many defensive guys and not enough guys like Bobby Ryan. All the two-way forwards were able to take nice, short shifts and kill off the penalty.

I have to believe Vladislav Tretiak might have been telling the truth when he said the Russian team would be playing the games like they were finals. At least this game, they’re all over, everywhere. Motors on defense as well as offense.

The first period ends with the U.S. looking like a mad hornets’ nest in front of the Russian net before a final clear by Russia. That bodes well for USA going into the locker room – always good to go in with a buzz.

The first period is over. All good chances in the period came on the power play, but no goals. I think Russia has to feel good about getting the bulk of the chances–they have to figure they’ll break through eventually (then again, I’ve seen Jon Quick absolutely not break, so … ). For the Americans, they withstood the test and quieted the crowd. They start the second on a power play, so that’s good. This one looks like a low-scoring game, but we all saw the Americans explode in the second period against Slovakia.

It’ll be an interesting start to the second period – both teams will have had time to get amped up in the locker room and consider the scope of this game before they head back out to the ice. But once they get to that ice, the U.S. will have 1:24 remaining on its power play, which was dominant just before the first period ended.

Matt and Gabriella Almeida from Manhattan may be getting more attention than anything happening on the ice. The siblings are wearing stars-and-stripes pajama bottoms, USA scarves and patriotic sweatshirts. Swarms of Russians are asking to take photos with them. One man tried to trade his Sweden scarf for Matt’s USA wear. “We heard people here don’t like Americans — nothing of the sort,” he said.

NBC just showed a montage of the USA playing very physical in the first. It will be interesting to see how Russia responds to getting pushed around so much. Can the US bully the Russians into a mistake?

A little smile from Kevin Shattenkirk there after he rips a great shot that is, of course, saved by Bobrovsky. Two teams with this much firepower, and it’s kind of baffling that a puck hasn’t gone in yet.

Ryan McDonagh is really good at blocking shots, and he does just that in a key moment. Stopping this Russian power play has to be basically like standing in front of a firing squad. So much firepower. They are In Control, capital I, capital C.

USA survives the Russian power play, which is one of the scariest things I’ve seen in hockey. Those guys are seriously dangerous. Meanwhile, Ryan Kesler, one of the USA’s best forwards, goes down with an injury. He’s headed to the locker room.

Souvenir of the game thus far belongs to Kris Swarthout, 42, of Minneapolis, who caught a stray puck early in the first period. He was shocked. His brother had speculated moments before that their seats were close enough to maybe catch a puck, and then there one was, flying toward him, “in slow motion.”

“I palmed it…..I could not have played it any cleaner,” Swarthout said.

He was wearing a Mike Modano Team USA Jersey, which the Minnesota native was sure to emphasize was vintage, pre-Dallas Stars issue. His brother was dressed in a Chicago Blackhawks jersey with DITKA on the back.

Swarthout, who is leaving for the States tomorrow, said he had no intention of selling the puck.

“Sell it? This is going in an acrylic box and be on my desk,” he said. “It’s going to be my Facebook photo.”

I’m happy to report that Russian native Anton Troianovski contained himself at the press table after that goal. But you must go back and read his essay in Friday’s Journal on why he can’t tear himself away from Russia hockey despite growing up in St Louis

Been said a thousand times but Ovi is just a joy to behold, just because of the sheer aggressiveness matched with fluidity, it’s a little like watching a monster truck perform ballet. Utterly aggressive as usual, some big tangles with Callahan and Orpik early in the first. Two big shots middway through second. Everywhere.

David Backes mixes it up with Russia’s Fedor Tyutin. Both head to the penalty box and the teams will play even at 4 on 4. This is even strength, but the advantage is distinctly Russian – they have more speed, more firepower, and they’re playing on bigger ice.

Needs more vuvuzela? It’s a fair point. The crescendos during great are fantastic and very very noisy but they have not implemented our cutting edge US technique of goading ticket holders every 90 seconds to MAKE SOME NOYYY-ZEE

And Russia will start the third on the power play. Another uneven period for the Americans. Frankly, they’re lucky to be tied. Russia has greatly outchanced the States. The US needs to find another gear and generate some sustained offense.

The takeaway I get from this game so far is that these are two extremely talented teams playing really crisp hockey right now. But neither of them have looked good enough to beat a completely and utterly stacked Team Canada that will be crusading to defend its Vancouver gold. Where the U.S. has Blake Wheeler, Team Canada has John Tavares. Advantage, Canada.

Stats are fairly even right now – U.S. up in shots 23-21, leading in scoring chances 16-12. Up in faceoffs won 24-20. But I feel like Russia has looked like the better team by a decent margin so far. Their offense has the momentum of a bull…going downhill, on a sled.

Also of note on that power play: Russia just did not look like Russia. They were sloppy with the puck and didn’t keep it moving. Alex Ovechkin, notably – and he’s notorious for taking the occasional shift off when he doesn’t like the way the game is trending.

It seems most US and Russian fans you ask here will tell you they don’t feel many Cold War echoes in this hockey game. But Yaroslav Rokos, a 50-year-old fan from the Czech Republic, is definitely rooting for Team USA. Why not the Russians? “They invaded us in 1968.”

USA kills another penalty. Against an insanely formidable Russian power play, the United States hasn’t allowed a single goal on way too many chances. This is an unlikely trend to keep up – USA needs to play more disciplined hockey or they’re going to get burned.

First puck that landed in our section went to the Slovenian journalist whose leg it bruised. Next one bounced into the hands of Russian fans who are now passing it around for selfies. I’m just keeping my head down.

NBC picks up that the net was off its moorings EVER SO SLIGHTLY, and that’s likely the reason the goal was waved off. To be honest, completely unlucky for Russia. The goal was clean, and the net was barely off – a layperson couldn’t even tell from afar.

A key here is that this penalty will carry over to the 4-on-4 overtime if regulation ends in a tie. That means USA would have about 30 seconds of 4-on-3 power play. And that’s insanely dangerous for Russia.

Something to look for if this game goes to shootout: The St. Louis Blues’ T.J. Oshie’s sick shootout move. He scores at a 70% clip in the NHL. Team USA mentioned Oshie’s shootout move specifically as part of the reason they picked him for the team. We may see it on display soon.

END OF OVERTIME, game tied. Welp, everyone’s dream come true: USA and Russia are headed to a shootout. Serious suspense and so much firepower on display here. Interesting factor could be whether Quick will face any non-NHL players, whom he may not have been able to study, in the shootout.

Pittsburgh Penguins’ general manager Ray Shero pops out of the NHL lounge to mix with the unwashed masses. He gets photo requests a Canadian fans who were hoping for Sidney Crosby but was nonetheless pleased.

It’s kind of crazy the international rules allow you to, after three shooters, go with whoever the heck you want, even if it’s one player over and over. But Oshie came up HUGE for the USA, and part of the reason they picked him was his shootout move. He used more than one today.

Comments (5 of 51)

Really disappointed with the female short track speed skaters! Looks like they are out for casual skate. Props for Patrick Chan for leaving it out there!

1:35 pm February 15, 2014

Janette wrote:

Good one! I remember that game.

12:33 pm February 15, 2014

Ruskies wrote:

putin had them all killed

12:32 pm February 15, 2014

fuck russia wrote:

anybody mention that the Russian team will not be available for the medal round because the all went to an undisclosed place in Poland and were killed?

12:29 pm February 15, 2014

Robb Coleman wrote:

OK Grand Forks can be Hockeytown for a day because Detroit (area) is real Hockeytown. Cam Fowler (born in Windsor but American mom so dual citizen and went to Farmington MI high school) Ryan Kessler from Livonia (Michigan not Russian one) and of course Pavel Datsyuk (Bloomfield Hills MI by way of Sverdlovsk)

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